Czech opens fire in restaurant, at least 9 dead

Published
10:41 am EST, Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Police officers patrol near a restaurant where a gunman opened fire injuring at least one person in Uhersky Brod, in the east of the Czech Republic, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015. Police did not immediately release any details. less

Police officers patrol near a restaurant where a gunman opened fire injuring at least one person in Uhersky Brod, in the east of the Czech Republic, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015. Police did not immediately release ... more

Photo: (AP Photo/CKT, Dalibor Gluck)

Photo: (AP Photo/CKT, Dalibor Gluck)

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Police officers patrol near a restaurant where a gunman opened fire injuring at least one person in Uhersky Brod, in the east of the Czech Republic, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015. Police did not immediately release any details. less

Police officers patrol near a restaurant where a gunman opened fire injuring at least one person in Uhersky Brod, in the east of the Czech Republic, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015. Police did not immediately release ... more

Photo: (AP Photo/CKT, Dalibor Gluck)

Czech opens fire in restaurant, at least 9 dead

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By The Associated Press

PRAGUE >> A man in the Czech Republic opened fire Tuesday in a restaurant, leaving at least eight people dead before killing himself, the town’s mayor said.

Patrik Kuncar, mayor of the southeastern town of Uherske Brod, said the gunman was a local man around 60 years old. A waitress from the restaurant was also hospitalized, he said.

The town of 17,000 lies 300 kilometers (185 miles) southeast of Prague, the Czech capital, and is home to the Ceska Zbrojovka gun plant.

Interior Minister Milan Chovanec, who was also quoted by Czech media outlets as saying that eight people had been killed, was heading to the scene by helicopter. He planned to hold a news conference when he arrived.

“According to available information, it was not a terrorist attack,” Chovanec said in a tweet.

The Czech Republic has strict gun control laws but hunting is popular in the eastern European nation.